On December 5, 1947, the disappearance of Flight 19 spurred on the legend of the Bermuda Triangle, the infamous body of water in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean stretching 270,271 square miles between Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto-Rico. Five Navy Avenger bombers vanished while on a routine training mission, as did a rescue plane sent to search for them — six aircraft and 27 men, gone without a trace. Or so the story goes. When all the facts are laid out, the tale of Flight 19 becomes far less puzzling. All of the crewmen of the five Avengers were inexperienced trainees, with the exception of their patrol leader, Lt. Charles Taylor. Taylor was perhaps not at the height of his abilities that day, as some reports indicate that he had a hangover and failed in his attempts to pass off this flight duty to someone else.
A search party was dispatched, which included the Martin Mariner that many claim disappeared into the Bermuda Triangle along with Flight 19. While it is true that it never returned, the Mariner did not vanish. Twenty-three seconds after takeoff, it exploded in the sight of several witnesses at the base. Unfortunately this was not an uncommon occurrence, because Mariners were known for their faulty gas tanks. No known wreckage from Flight 19 has ever been recovered. One reasonable explanation is that Taylor led the planes so far into the Atlantic that they were past the continental shelf. There the ocean abruptly drops from a few hundred feet deep to several thousand feet deep. Planes and ships that sink to such depths are seldom seen again. The deepest point in the Atlantic Ocean, the 30,100-foot-deep Puerto Rico Trench, lies within the Bermuda Triangle.
Combining the circumstances of the failing compass, the difficulty of radio transmissions, and the absence of wreckage, tales of mysterious intervention befalling Flight 19 began to take form. Theories involving strange magnetic fields, time warps, Atlantis, and alien abduction began to appear. Even an official Navy report intimated that the Avengers had disappeared “as if they had flown to Mars.” The lost aviators reappeared from a spaceship at Devil’s Tower National Monument in Steven Spielberg’s 1977 movie, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Here’s the full story as reported by HidingTheTruth.com
Flight 19 is the darling of Bermuda Triangle aficionados. Any book, discussion, article, or blog about the so-called “Limbo Of The Lost”, will undoubtedly lead to a discussion of the ill-fated mission at some point. Few other incidents in history have caught the public’s attention as this has. Until very recently, it was a mystery ranked right up there with the disappearance of the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail, the Roanoke Colony, Custer’s Last Stand, and the disappearance of Amelia Earhart. For those unfamiliar with the story, I will elaborate. The popular version goes like this:
On Dec 5, 1945, soon after the end of WW-II, at 1410 EST, 5 TBM Avengers took off from NAS (Naval Air Station) Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. on a navigational training mission. They were designated as Flight 19. There were 14 men aboard the 5 planes (there should have been 15, but one plane was short a crewman). The take-off appeared uneventful, and it should have been an easy 390 mile triangular flight plan, maybe a little over two hours long. This was well within the planes operational range of 1000 miles, with full tanks. The TBM could stay in the air for around 6 hours. The day was calm with good visibility, but there was some weather expected later in the afternoon, well beyond when the flight would’ve returned.
The first indication that all was not well was at 1545, when the Ft. Lauderdale control tower was expecting Flight 19 to request landing instructions. Instead, the tower operators heard the Flight Leader report that he could not see land, and that he thought they were off-course. He sounded confused. The tower asked what there position was, but there was no answer from the flight. After a few minutes, the Flight Leader affirmed that he could not be sure where they were. Contact was lost for around 10 minutes, and the next transmissions were from the other planes, talking among themselves, and sounding very confused. The Flight Leader had transferred command to one of the other planes, for no apparent reason. The new Flight Leader reported that they were still lost, unsure of their position, and that everything looked ‘wrong’ including the ocean. Once again, contact was lost for around 20 minutes. The next, and final transmissions from Flight 19 were incoherent, and made no sense. The new Flight Leader exclaimed they were flying into “white-water’, and that they were lost.
All aircraft in the vicinity were requested to attempt to make contact with the lost flight, and it was hoped they could be located by radio triangulation. The planes still had fuel at this time, but a Martin PBM Mariner flying boat, loaded with full rescue gear, took off immediately, just in case. The PBM headed for Flight 19s estimated position, but it soon disappeared as well, with no ‘mayday’ emergency call. Planes and boats scoured the area for a week, but no wreckage of bodies were ever found. Flight 19s disappearance has been blamed on UFOs. Waterspouts, freak magnetic anomalies, and even time warps.
There are several things wrong with this story. The Naval Board of Inquiry records documented the incident quite well. There were several significant factors noted by the Board. First, this was a training flight, and all the pilots and crew members, except for the Flight Leader/Instructor, were students. The Flight Leader had 2509 hours flight-time, most of it in the TBM, and some of it in combat. The rest of the crews had 300 hours or less, with only around 60 in the TMB. It was noted that the Flight Leader, while being experienced, was not very familiar with the Ft. Lauderdale area, because he had just been transferred from NAS Miami. He had never flown this particular route before. He also had a history of flying “by the seat of his pants”, rather than using instruments, and had gotten lost on several previous occasions. Another factor was that none of the planes had a working clock onboard. After WW-II, aircrews returning home would remove the clocks from their planes to take home as war souvenirs. And lastly, shortly before the flight, the Instructor had asked to be excused from making the flight, for unspecified reasons. His request was denied, as no replacement was available.
The mission plan called for the planes to take off at 1345, and take up a heading of 091 fir 56 miles. This would put them over Hens and Chickens Shoals, where they would make practice bombing runs. They were then to fly 091 for 67 miles, then 346 degrees for 73 miles, then finally take up a heading of 241 degrees for 120 miles, bringing them back to NAS Ft. Lauderdale. The entire flight should not have taken much more than 2-1/2 hours. The Flight’s Call Sign was FT-28.
Flight 19 took off 20 minutes behind schedule, because the Instructor had showed up late to the briefing, but the weather was still favorable, with moderate to rough seas. Their ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) at Hens and Chickens was around 20 minutes after take-off, and fishing boat near the shoals did report seeing 4 or 5 large aircraft heading east, at around 1500. Not long after this, several other Naval aircraft in the vicinity heard the planes talking among them selves, sounding confused and saying “both compasses were out”. One of them, FT-74, made radio contact with Flight 19, and was told they they thought they were over the Keys. FT-74 told them to put the sun on their port wing, and fly north until they saw Florida, then gave them directions to NAS Ft. Lauderdale.
FT 74 offered to rendezvous with them and guide them in, but FT-28 declined the offer. Flight 19 did request that NAS Miami turn on their radar and try to pick them up. FT-74 asked if they had their IFF (Identification, Friend, or Foe) beacons turned on. At this point, FT-28 had the planes turn on their IFF gear. In the meantime, more than 20 Land-Based facilities were ordered to assist in the location of Flight 19, and all commercial sea traffic was requested to help locate them. Coast Guard vessels prepared to deploy in case a sea rescue was needed. Sometime around 1630, FT-28s transmission began to break-up, indicating they were flying out of radio range. At this time, the seas were becoming rough and the wind had increased to 22 knots. Ground stations continued to pick up intermittent chatter between the planes as they tried to figure out where they were. Several PBYs and other multi-engined search planes were dispatched to try to make visual contact. At 1700, the weather was deteriorating, and time was running out. By now, the planes would’ve been down to less than two hours remaining fuel.
A Martin PBM-5, call sign Bruno 59225, took off from NAS Banana River at 1910, with 12 hours worth of fuel, a 13 man crew, and full rescue gear. It was one of two PBMs launched from the Air Station. Aircraft and other radio stations in the area continued to pick up garbled transmissions from Flight 19, with one sounding particularly ominous. It was an order from FT-28 to the other planes that when any plane got down to 10 gallons, they would all ditch together. The TBM Avenger was a heavy plane, and did not float at all. In the heavy seas, it was unlikely any of them would survive a ditching. At 1930, Bruno 59225 radioed that it was outbound, and was never heard from again. At 1950, a tanker, the SS Gaines Mills reported seeing an aircraft catch fire and crash into the sea, exploding on impact. They went to the scene to try to rescue any survivors, but only found an oil slick. (Note-the PBM was notorious for having fuel leaks, and catching fire in flight, hence it’s nickname, “the Flying Gas Tank”…….).
After a few more garbled transmissions, contact with Flight 19 was lost for the final time, and it was obvious they had gone into the sea. Bad weather and heavy seas made search and rescue efforts difficult, if not altogether impossible, but operations continued for over a week, without a trace.
In 1945, long before modern navigational equipment and GPS, it was not uncommon to lose planes over the sea. In fact, Flight 19 was only one of several dozen that had become lost in that area, and the sea floor is littered with the remains of crashed aircraft. Some of the water in that area is quite deep. Contrary to popular belief, wreckage is not always found after disasters at sea, especially in bad weather. It is obvious that what happened was the Flight became lost, flew in zig-zags until they ran out of fuel, then attempted to ditch in heavy seas, resulting in the crews drowning, if any survived the crash itself. TBMs sank like a rock once they hit the water.
Since then, numerous TBMs have been found on the sea bottom off the Florida coast, but none have been Flight 19. After the Challenger disaster in 1989, several TBMs were located while searching for the Space Shuttle wreckage. In 1990, and air-traffic controller decided to use his own money, hire a min-sub, and look for Flight 19, using data from the Challenger search. He was able to photograph and upside-down Avenger, in 390 feet of water, 35 miles off the coast of Cape Kennedy (formerly Cape Canaveral). It was not possible to see the entire serial number, but the last three numbers, 209, are clearly visible in the picture. Flight 19s Lead-Plane was serial number 73209. According to Navy records, only 2 other TBMs had serial numbers ending in 209, and both are accounted for, one still flying, and the other in a museum. It is probable that the other 4 planes are a little farther north, in much deeper water. For some reason, as of yet, no one has wanted to fork-over the $25,000 dollars it is estimated to cost, to raise and salvage the plane. Maybe the world prefers it to remain a mystery, to thrill audiences with stories of aliens, time warps, and Bermuda Triangles.
As for me, well, the photographs were examined by experts and judged to be genuine, so I am convinced the ‘mystery’ of Flight 19 is solved. Once again, good science, and sound investigative techniques have prevailed. Sure, it took almost 50 years, but better late than never….
End Story
The Bermuda Triangle has been the source of many strange occurrences and mysteries involving both aircraft and boats. It is also known as the Devil’s Triangle and the area features multiple shipping lanes and has claimed over 1,000 lives in the last 100 years. But scientists think they have finally figured out why this continues to happen.
According to Fox News, experts at the University of Southampton believe the mystery can be explained by a natural phenomenon known as “rogue waves.”
Appearing on a Channel 5 documentary “The Bermuda Triangle Enigma,” the scientists used indoor simulators to re-create the monster water surges. These waves, some of which measure 100 feet high, only last for a few minutes. They were first observed by satellites in 1997 off the coast of South Africa and are often seen as the source of so many lost ships.
The research team built a model of the USS Cyclops, a huge vessel which went missing in the triangle in 1918 claiming 300 lives and used it in their indoors simulator. Because of its sheer size and flat base, it did not take long before the model is overcome with water during the simulation, according to Fox News.
Dr. Simon Boxall, an ocean and earth scientist, claims that the Bermuda Triangle area in the Atlantic can see three massive storms coming together from different directions, making the perfect conditions for a rogue wave. Such a massive surge in water could snap a boat, such as the USS Cyclops, into two pieces, said Boxall.
Boxall added:
“There are storms to the south and north, which come together. And if there are additional ones from Florida, it can be a potentially deadly formation of rogue waves,”.
“They [the rogue waves] are steep, they are high – we’ve measured waves in excess of 30 meters (98 feet),” said Boxall.
(Source: Infowars)
